Summer School in Agricultural Engineering
The Cremona Campus of Politecnico di Milano is organizing, in collaboration with China Agricultural University, a Summer School in Agricultural Engineering.
The activities will take place from 20 to 24 July 2026 and will include, in addition to lectures, two visits to the ROSETEA and Bioenergy Factory laboratories at the Cremona Campus.
Seminar schedule
Monday 20/7
Title: MPC control for agriculture: applications to robotics and smart irrigation
Speakers: Prof. Bascetta, Prof. Ferretti
Abstract: The seminar explores the use of Model Predictive Control (MPC) in agriculture. MPC is a powerful and highly flexible control strategy which, thanks to the computational capabilities now available even on compact embedded platforms, is increasingly being adopted across a wide range of applications: from robotic systems to greenhouse climate control, irrigation management, crop monitoring and control, and beyond.
After a concise introduction to multiphysics modelling, a key step in the design of model-based controllers such as MPC, the seminar will provide an overview of both linear and nonlinear MPC. Two application examples will then be presented: one in agricultural robotics and one in smart irrigation.
9:00-10:00 – Multiphysics acausal modelling using Modelica (Ferretti)
10:00-11:00 – Designing linear and nonlinear MPC controllers (Bascetta)
11:00-12:00 – MPC control of a robot for agricultural applications (Bascetta)
14:00-15:00 – MPC control of water levels in rice fields (Ferretti)
Tuesday 21/7
Title: Technologies for agricultural waste valorization – alternatives for energy and material recovery
Speakers: Prof. Ficara, Prof. Turolla
Abstract: The seminar addresses alternatives technologies for material and energy recovery from agricultural wastes as circular solutions to reduce the impacts of food production and processing on natural resources, while improving energy food security. Process alternatives will be explored spanning from biotechnologies based on chemotrophs and phototrophs to thermochemical processes and examples of applications to agro-waste will be presented.
9:00-10:30 – Anaerobic digestion and co-digestion optimization for agro-industrial wastes via first principle modelling (Elena Ficara, Arianna Catenacci)
10:30-12:00 – Bioprocesses for recovering carbon and nutrients from agro-industrial residual streams (Elena Ficara, Francesca di Benedetto)
14:00-15:00 – Thermal processes for the valorization of agroindustrial residual streams (Andrea Turolla)
Wednesday 22/7
Title: Terramechanics and Ground Mobility for Agricultural Vehicles
Speakers: Prof. Previati
Abstract: The performance of agricultural vehicles depends strongly on the interaction between the machine and the soil. This seminar introduces the fundamentals of terramechanics, focusing on how soil properties affect vehicle mobility, traction, rolling resistance, and soil compaction.
The first part will present the main mechanical properties of agricultural soils, including load-bearing capacity, sinkage, and shear strength, together with their dependence on soil type and moisture content. The second part will examine the behaviour of agricultural tyres, showing how tyre size, inflation pressure, and tread design influence traction efficiency and soil preservation. Finally, tracked vehicles will be briefly introduced highlighting their advantages and limitations with respect to wheeled vehicles.
The seminar combines fundamental concepts with practical engineering applications for modern agricultural and off-road vehicles.
9:00–10:30 – Fundamentals of Terramechanics for Off-Road Mobility
10:30–12:00 – Soil–Tyre Interaction: Traction, Rolling Resistance and Soil Compaction
14:00–15:00 – Ground Mobility Systems: Agricultural Tyres and Tracks
Thursday 23/7
Title: Smart irrigation water management: integrating agro-hydrological model with remote sensing data
Speakers: Prof. Corbari
Abstract: The seminar explores the integration of remote sensing and ground data into agro-hydrological modeling for improving irrigation water management, both at single field scale as well as at irrigation district scales. Examples of applications will be presented and a practical session of irrigation weekly forecasting will be organized.
9:00-10:15 Improving irrigation water management from field to district scales
10.30-12:00 Irrigation volume quantification
14:00-15:00 Practical session on weekly irrigation demand forecast
Friday 24/7
Title: AI meets Agriculture
Speakers: Prof. Amigoni, Prof. Bestagini, Prof. Mandelli
Abstract: This seminar explores how Artificial Intelligence is transforming modern agriculture. The seminar provides an overview of AI methods, including planning, machine learning, computer vision, and IoT sensors, and surveys some of their applications across the agricultural value chain, like predictive analytics, crop monitoring, and pest detection.
Lab tour schedule
Tuesday 21/7
La fabbrica della bioenergia (FabE-lab)
“Fabbrica della Bioenergia” was founded in 2011 with flagship funding from Fondazione Cariplo and contributions from other co-funding entities: the Province of Cremona, the Cremona Campus and DICA of the Politecnico di Milano, the Municipality and Chamber of Commerce of Cremona, and ERSAF. The flagship project concluded in 2015, but Fabbrica’s mission continues.
Fabbrica’s mission is to establish a research and consulting center capable of promoting and supporting the widespread adoption of anaerobic digestion and addressing the needs of stakeholders in this field: public agencies, farms, industries, manufacturers and operators of anaerobic digestion plants, municipal utilities and integrated water service providers, trade associations/consortia, and training institutions.
Thursday 23/7
The RObotic SEnsors Technologies for Environment and Agriculture lab (ROSETEA-lab)
The RObotic SEnsors Technologies for Environment and Agriculture laboratory at Politecnico di Milano studies innovative methodologies and technologies to support the development of sustainable food production systems, and of resilient agricultural practices, increasing productivity and production while reducing the environmental footprint.
ROSETEA theoretical and applied research covers a wide spectrum of topics, including modelling robots and agricultural machinery for dynamic simulation, control system design and validation; autonomous navigation of UAVs and UGVs for agricultural applications; and farm automation.